Rings of Fire
by Hemlock
Summary: Second Chapter is Up! Kindly please read and review! Reading the first 'book', Rings of Smoke, is high recommended if you feel clueless! And again, please review!
1. Recapitulation

_Author's Note: Dear readers, this is the Second Part of my Rings saga. The First Part, Rings of Smoke, can be found under the list of Stories Authored. Please do read it for clarity and continuity. That being said, for the adventurous ones, you can dive in directly, but don't say I didn't warn you…_

_-_()_- _

Tsunade slammed the thin report onto her desk. With an expressionless face she stared at the man standing before him. She used to respect this man, but of late, she found her respect of her was on the wane. "Explain this," she simply said after a length of time. 

The man was Iruka. He knew he looked like hell, but he did not care. He had failed his A-rank mission, went home in shame, tricked by a former student, and worse of all, was required to write a report on his failure. "I bet that sufficed," he said without batting one eye.

"This was an A-rank mission," Tsunade began. "And you know very well how we operate around here: you do not get yourself another mission when you have yet to complete a pending one."

"Those cases were connected."

"In what way?" Tsunade lashed. Before Iruka could answer she cut him: "Don't answer that. I bet you'd say there was some cult-ish hanky-panky going on. Don't roll your eyes at me! Iruka, I hereby refrain you from getting any missions under your name, and you are also banned from joining missions."

Tsunade half-expected Iruka to fall down on his knees and beg. Instead he said with an even cool voice: "Anything else?"

"Did you even hear what I said just now?!"

"I'm banned from receiving and partaking in any form of missions, yes, I believe that's the gist of it. Or is there anything else you want to add?"

Tsunade hesitated, but added: "Yes! You are forbidden to leave the village under any circumstances. Now leave."

Iruka nodded once, turned and left the office. Strangely, a smile was etched on his face.

---

Tsunade waited until she was certain that Iruka had left the building. She even went as far as peering from her window just to ensure that he really had left the vicinity of the building. When she saw him disappear down teashop at a corner, then she returned to her desk, pull out the drawers, took out a small parchment, and wrote two brief sentences.

Rolling it, she placed the parchment inside a tube no more than two centimeters in length. Whistling loudly, she opened a window. A small bird flew in and settled itself on the windowpane. Tsunade gently pinched open the bird's beak and dropped the tube inside. The small bird, apparently swallowing the tube down, shook its small body once, ruffled its feathers, and set out for flight.

"It's for the best," Tsunade whispered to herself, watching as the bird disappear into the thick forest surrounding Konoha.

---

It was quite a busy afternoon, with winter fast approaching. Kiba could smell the cold air. Normally Konoha would not be very cold as winter approaches as it enjoyed warm weather all year round, but recent news from the north claimed that the weather pattern seemed to be changing. Traders and ninjas alike reported spells of cold weather along the way as they travelled.

Kiba liked the balmy, slightly chilly weather. It fit his furry clothing that he preferred so much. Now he could pull it over his head and parade around without getting stares from the locals. Akamaru scampered around him, sometimes getting dangerously tangled between Kiba's legs, but Kiba was an expert in expecting Akamaru's attempts to knock him off his feet.

Kiba saw Iruka walked past him with an inexpressive face. He wanted to greet Iruka, but the man quickly walked into an alley, almost as if he wanted no one to notice him.

"I wonder what happened to him - summoned by the Hokage after a failed mission isn't a good sign," he thought to himself. Akamaru echoed his thoughts with a whine. "I'm worried about him too, Akamaru. But let's just stay out of this for the while."

Kiba intended to do so, but then, as he was about to turn away, he saw Ibiki entered the same alley. Akamaru was already tugging at the long arm of his shirt, begging him to leave (the poor dog was hungry). Kiba waved him off, but kept him close. When neither men seemed to come out of the alley, Kiba decided to approach. Akamaru warily tagged along behind him.

The shop that was at the alley corner was a candy shop. When the shop owner saw Kiba approach, he greeted him loudly, but Kiba ignored him and leant against the walls. Ignoring poisonous stares, Kiba proceeded to peek around the wall.

Out of the corner of his eyes Kiba could see Ibiki's bulk, but not Iruka's. However, where his eyes failed him, his ears and nose did not. Kiba could positively smell Iruka there. From his vantage location, Kiba could eavesdrop them without being suspected. And as for a good cover (and possibly to placate the angry candy vendor), he also bought a lollipop and a bone-shaped candy for Akamaru. Disgusted with the offer, Akamaru settled on his master's side and curled himself, his brown nose the only thing visible amongst the white fur.

Kiba eavesdropped with some success:

"...finally, you got what you needed, huh?" This was Ibiki.

"Glad she banned me. I... wait forever. This cannot. It has to be completed... know what will emerge." Iruka.

"...it's nothing like what we have faced before."

A sigh. "I won't mind. I was the one who led him on. I should have realised this would have happened."

"Who are they talking about?" Kiba wondered. "Is it the person we tried to capture in the last mission?"

"No, Iruka," said Ibiki. "I knew him - at least I used to. He's someone who would stop at nothing to save his friends. You, of all people, should know that."

Kiba's ears twitched. It sounded vaguely familiar...

Another sigh from Iruka. He muttered something inaudible that led Ibiki to exclaim loudly: "What! But that's impossible!"

"I know the drill, Ibiki. I did a research on this before."

"And the Hokage banned you because of this? Why would she do that!? Doesn't she realise that the pattern and the murders can only mean one thing - "

"KIBA! How are you?!"

Damn! Kiba thought as he struggled with the lollipop now lodged in his throat. His face fast turning blue, the perpetrator - Chouji - quickly noticed this. Akamaru began barking loudly, alerting passersby and possibly his two targets in the alley. Kiba was frantically pointing to his throat, his hands flailing about uselessly. Chouji was already behind him, giving him a Heimleich Manouver. Once, twice, then the lollipop flew out and landed on the road before them, narrowly missing a running little f. Breathing quickly and heavily, Kiba turned to Chouji with a deadly look in his eyes. Chouji, undeterred by this, made a move toward him.

"Stop right there!" Kiba said aloud. As he felt his breath return to a semblance of normality, Kiba stood straight slowly. Akamaru also ceased barking. "What are you trying to do, Chouji? Assassinate me?"

"I was only asking how are you, okay?" Chouji said brightly, as if Kiba's brush with death was as common as breathing. "How are you?"

"Almost dead, thank you," Kiba sarcastically replied. He pushed Chouji away and ran into the alley, Akamaru trailing behind. Ibiki and Iruka were both gone. Chouji was a short distance behind. "Great. Now they probably knew I was eavesdropping."

"Eavesdropping whom?" Chouji asked, his pudgy face had this expression of total bewilderment.

Kiba stared at him and shook his head. It was not Chouji's fault, after all. "Nothing, buddy. But next time, don't shout like that. Akamaru has a heart condition."

Akamaru growled at Kiba. Chouji laughed.

---

"I visited Sakura the other day."

Ino and Hinata were seated on the window seat. The two women stared out at the busy evening street. The day had almost reached its zenith, casting long shadows over Konoha. Somewhere in the horizon, hidden by the thick forest surrounding the village, the sun was colouring the wide sky a vivid red and orange. Tea steamed in delicate porcelain cups.

"I had a chat with Hinata turned around and leant against the window. "She's so - distant these days. Don't you think so?"

Ino took a while to answer that. True, while she seemed to be actively participating in missions - gaining a senior rank within months was no simple feat - most of those who joined her missions whispered of coldness and severe professionalism. "I really can't comment on that, Hinata," she slowly replied, almost hesitantly. "I rarely see her nowadays. She's always busy with missions, you see. You can't really blame her if you find her distant."

Hinata smiled that timid, quiet smile of hers. "I know, but there is always time for everything. And she seemed to have no time for everything except missions."

"She works hard, that's all." Ino realised she was defending Sakura. "She chooses to," she quickly added.

Hinata leant forward and caressed that band of hair which often fell out of place no matter how much she tied them up with the bandana. "The two of you are the rarest of friends, you know? Tied by not only rivalry, but also love. Do you still think of him?"

A bitter smile came upon Ino's face as she playfully swatted Hinata's hand. She sipped her tea, ignoring the heat. "Sometimes, yes. But not as passionately."

A small silence descended.

Hinata suddenly turned around. "I had this very strange encounter with Sakura the other day."

Ino leant forward. "What was it?"

"She told me Naruto was here, in the village."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "That can't be true."

"I know!" Hinata nodded enthusiastically. "But I was divided myself, whether I wanted to believe her or not. At the end, she blamed it on her drugs. It might have made her hallucinate."

Ino drew a deep breath. "When was this?"

"Not a few weeks after she recovered from that mission where lots of children were killed." Hinata bit her lips, trying to recall something. "Weren't you among the recovery team?"

Ino nodded. The tone of Hinata's voice was languid, but she could also sense something else... or it might be her imagination.

"Did you notice something out of place there?"

"Aside from the dead bodies?"

"You know what I mean."

Ino tried to recall. She did report something to her late teacher, Asuma, regarding a certain impression in the area. Actually, several impressions. It was on the trees, on the ground, but mostly around the dead body. The impression was plainly evident on the dead missing nin.

Ino stared at Hinata, whose gray-white eyes looked back at her with expectation, and debated whether she should let her late teacher keep the secret forever.

---

Naruto woke up with a jolt.

Bad move. The sudden motion immediately took a toll on his psyche - his ears rang incessantly, his neck and back suddenly was racked with pain, and he saw stars. But he could not lie back down; so crippling was the pain he was experiencing. Naruto could only let out a whimper.

"Awake at last," said a voice. Not unfamiliar, but even his own state could be debatable - whether he was in safe hands or not. "Always off and running, are we?"

In his current state, Naruto only let out another whimper. However, slowly he could feel the regenerative effects of the Nine-tails chakra. The pain in his neck and back had also lessened to manageable levels. However it still hurt to move. "Show yourself," he finally managed to croak out.

Naruto was in a room, lying on a bed, he realised later. There were no windows; not conspicuous ones, anyway. A single bulb lit the room, though rather dim. It seemed to focus on Naruto's bed and nowhere else. Faintly he could hear footsteps, moving toward him. Naruto slowly realised, also, that there were no outer ambient noise. He could not tell whether it was night or day outside.

At the edge of the light thrown upon the floor by the dim bulb, Naruto saw a hem of a cloth appearing. A pair of feet moved slightly underneath them, then stopped. "I must say, you are one fortunate man, Naruto," said a man's voice.

"It was not everyday that my trusted companion goes around that area, you know? She always avoided that particular spot in the forest - she has her own reasons. I'm not keen to learn of it. But that morning, she passed by, and saw a man about to be killed in an unfair battle. Again, it was her own reasons that led her to saving you. My trusted medical group here took care of you until today. They were very skeptical of your survival at first, but later was captivated by your regenerative abilities."

Naruto slowly held up a hand. The man, mistaking it for an offensive move, immediately moved away. Weakly, Naruto shook his head, although by now his body was not feeling anymore pain - in fact, Naruto feared he was going numb for _not_ feeling anything. Weakly, again, Naruto held up his hand, and made the 'come here' gesture with some difficulty. The man shuffled closer.

"Thank you," Naruto whispered. "But just one request?"

"Anything, my good man. Anything."

"Can you shut up?"

-()-

_To be continued… and please do review…!_


	2. A Late Prelude

Chapter Two

A Late Prelude

* * *

"Why are you keeping me here?" 

They were in a room that overlooked a small garden. There had been some rain last night, and the area was covered by a thick mist, making the garden looked ethereal. The room itself was wide, sparsely decorated save for a calligraphy scroll and a small table at one end. The small table held two ceremonial blades, one longer than the other.

Naruto was seated in a wheelchair. Across the low table was the man he came to learn as Lord Funaki, a lord who presided over the Prefecture of Yukihama. He looked too young become a lord. His genial smile made Naruto feel ill at ease.

"Well, to be honest," he began as he poured hot water into his cup before covering it, "it was not me who wanted to keep you here. You had sustained terrible wounds – wounds that, if inflicted upon a normal person, would be fatal."

"I'm a ninja," Naruto said with a harsh tone. "I'm supposed to be impervious to wounds that would kill a normal person."

Funaki shrugged. "Precisely - you're a ninja. That had made my medical team hopping around like monkeys who had eaten peppers. Not every ninja could sustain those wounds. You, on the other hand, emerged out of the ordeal literally with minor scratches."

Naruto closed his eyes briefly, trying to recall what Kabuto had done to him. It came back in brief flashes – Kabuto grinning down at him – Kabuto looking at him with that cold expression – then _both_ grabbed him by the shoulders and, under the moonlight, two _senbon_ needles glittered, each the size of a hay stalk – a sharp pain, no – _two _sharp pains hit him in the abdomen – that draining, sinking feeling dragged him down into unconsciousness –

"What did you find?" Naruto asked tentatively. Not everyone was privy to the knowledge of those who were Demon Bearers.

"You were severely drained of your chakra. Detrimental, you know, to the laymen, but not to you. Another reason for my medical team to hop about. And your legs. The main reason why you aren't able to stand up until today is that whoever that attacker was, he/she made sure no one would follow or track him/her. Your attacker used a small and thin implement, most likely needles, to correctly puncture spots where it had immobilised you in an instant."

"Are you saying that this condition is permanent?!" Naruto asked, surprised and angry.

Funaki shook his head and lifted a comforting hand. "No, no, Naruto, not with my wonderfully adept team. Already, you can move your feet about, I see. Try getting up now. Do you need assistance?"

Naruto shot him a glance that made Funaki lowered his hands – two servants who had been in wait quickly backed away – and said to Naruto: "If you insist on doing it all by yourself."

Bracing himself on the wheelchair, Naruto pushed his upper body up. With his eyes staring back at Funaki determinedly, inch by inch he felt his body rise up. His feet, however, struggled to support the sudden weight. But Naruto finally stood up. He allowed a sneer to appear on his face.

"Your healing abilities are remarkable," Funaki remarked, his face was full of wonder. "Anbe-san had expected you to stand at least by the day after tomorrow, but – wow. Your body must be handling the ministrations very well, considering some of the medicine they used was highly experimental."

Naruto sat himself back in the wheelchair, his eyes never leaving Funaki. "Am I allowed to leave?"

"I don't think there is no need for permission for you to do anything at all. You're not a prisoner, if I may remind you, Naruto. Come and go as you like. You have a place here in Yukihama. Always."

"I belong," Naruto said, with the smallest of pain in his voice, "to no one."

Funaki might have sensed it, because he, too, fell silent. They both fell into separate reveries, ones they did not bother to speak aloud of, and seemed to have forgotten a presence of someone else in the room. As the slow strains of a koto began from behind a drawn bamboo curtain, Funaki seemed to snap out of his thoughts and nodded to nobody in particular.

"Ah! Naruto, I forgot to introduce you two, in my excitement to see how you have been. This here is Makoto Shin. An excellent koto player, if I must say myself, and –"

"A missing nin," Naruto cut him short. Funaki made a motion to speak, but Naruto ignored this. "Is this what you're up to, Lord Funaki? Are you trying to become the new Orochimaru? Collecting all these missing nins and have them do your bidding?"

Amidst the slow strains of music Naruto detected a stray note. He turned toward that bamboo screen, all muscles in his body tensed, ready for a fight. But the music went on. He focused back to Funaki, whose whole demeanour had soured in that instant Naruto had turned.

"Don't think nobody knew about your triumph over that tyrant, Naruto. Oh yes, everyone knew! How you defeated him using your forbidden talents, and how, by saving everyone, you made yourself an outcast. Isn't that ironic?"

"That was my choice, dammit," Naruto muttered.

"And look where it landed your sorry ass now. I've been holding myself back many times from saying this, but I cannot any longer: you are pathetic! Your village is hunting you, you don't have anyone to confide to, and your efforts to save your teacher have failed. In fact, not only you screwed up everything for Iruka, you also managed to get him banned, possibly for life!"

Naruto was no longer listening – his mind had stopped tuning in to whatever Funaki was saying after he called him pathetic. The servants, who were fortunately had been standing behind him, in fact a good five feet away, could suddenly see an orange aura that seem to envelop his whole being. Wisely, they ran out of the room.

"Your choice sucks! And –" Funaki stopped talking as he realised what was going on in front of him. Naruto was enveloped by the terrible orange-reddish aura that slowly took a shape of a fox's head. It bared its great mouth and moved slowly toward Funaki, whom scrambled blindly toward the nearest wall, but he did not look afraid. Instead it was as if he was expecting this.

The massive image bowed its head down. So close it was that he could feel its breath against his face. But as it closed in the last few inches between them, the image encountered an invisible barrier. It frowned at the unseen impediment.

By now, the music from behind the screen was getting very frantic, an almost prodigious piece of musical _ostinato_. As the fox's head turned around toward the screen, it breathed out, nostrils flared. With that breath the screen was torn apart in an instant.

Naruto was still fixed on the wheelchair, eyes staring into nothingness, his expression grim. The image of the fox's head blinked once and gave a grave laugh.

A woman was seated there, playing the koto with the utmost concentration. Her eyes were not fixed at the terrible image appearing before her, but at the koto keyboard. Her dainty fingers moved at an impossible speed to pluck out the prodigious music. To the untrained ear, it seemed to be that two players, not one, were playing the music. The image inclined its head, and with an apparent humour, asked:

"What is it that you're playing, little woman?"

Only then the woman seemed to register its existence; her head moved by a fraction to meet eye to eye. Then she said, but not in reply to the fox:

"Master."

Funaki had been creeping away toward the safety of the sliding door, trying to make it out of the room. Realising this, the fox extended a part of itself toward that door, Funaki's only way out. It moulded itself into an impassable barrier, while one other part of it began to shape itself into claws and grabbed Funaki's ankle.

There was a sudden shift in the musical key, and the claw-chakra snapped suddenly into two. Totally taken by surprise, the fox turned to the woman, barely noticing that the chakra that had moulded itself at the door was also disintegrating. The music, by now, was very, very fast. Her fingers were virtually unseen on the koto.

"What are you – doing…?" Its voice was of surprise.

The fox found itself to be disintegrating, too. It let out a loud, unearthly howl, before, with its last vestiges of powers, tried to ram the woman. Fortunately for her, at that moment the image had totally disintegrated, the chakra binding the image had dissipated; all that passed her was the remnant energies of the image; however, that also managed to hurl her a few inches away from her koto, caused her pick-covered fingers to catch on the strings, and ended the music abruptly.

She let out a breath and said one word while showing her picks to no one in particular:

"Broken."

Naruto, meanwhile, suddenly slumped on his wheelchair, unconscious.

Funaki heaved a relieved sigh when he saw this. "No matter, Makoto. I can always get you new ones. In the mean time, I guess we have succeeded in our experiment." He pushed himself standing and looked around with a smug smile, and located a few faces, pale and frightened peeking from behind the sliding door. "Can I get this room tidied?"

-()-

Iruka glanced nervously outside of the window. He could not hide his nervousness anymore. He glanced back at the continuously talking Kakashi who seemed oblivious of his anxiety.

"… and I informed Jiraiya that his books are getting better. He seemed to like that comment, and we ended up drinking sake for hours on end."

"Yes, that is all very nice," Iruka interrupted him before Kakashi could start talking again, "but Kakashi, I need to take my leave now. I'm needed somewhere else at this hour."

"But I thought you were – sorry," Kakashi began but stopped as he saw Iruka's expression changed. "I didn't realise you were tied up somewhere else. Back to teaching?"

"What else can I do?" Iruka replied. "Well, thanks for the tea. Gotta go." He rose and left without sparing a glance back at Kakashi, which he found quite disconcerting. Kakashi just sat there and watched as Iruka disappeared among the crowd.

Iruka still felt Kakashi's eyes behind his back even as his distance grew from the teahouse. He closed his eyes briefly and heaved a sigh as he turned at a junction toward Ibiki's house. Early in the morning Ibiki had left a message on a leaf that instantly burnt to cinders when he had finished reading it.

_GOT HIM__. INSTRUCTIONS?_

Iruka had allowed himself a smile after watching the leaf burnt itself to cinders. It was not easy for him nowadays to smile, but those simple words had given him a cause. Today, he thought, he would get answers to the questions that had plagued him since this whole mess had started.

-()-

There was a nondescript apartment building that stood a ways from the teahouse where Iruka and Kakashi had been. Iruka took special pains to appear wandering aimlessly, to finally stop in front the apartment building. It was three storeys tall and there was a pole in front of it with a banner flying at half mast. Seemingly meaningless to anyone aside from the fact it announced the Autumn Festival in the neighbouring country. But for Iruka, that meant that his prayers had been answered.

He got to the second floor, knocked at the second last door, and waited. The door opened a crack, and a suspicious eye peered through it. "Oh, it's you," someone said from within. Then the door opened slightly wider and without warning an unseen hand yanked him inside.

Immediately Iruka was surrounded by darkness so thick, he felt as if swimming in a pot of ink. It had to be a genjutsu, he thought, and hastily made a hand sign to release the genjutsu from his mind.

When the darkness had dissipated, he found himself standing at the threshold between the small hallway and the living room. It was a modest but spacious dwelling, with little decorations. From the far door that opened to the east, the sun was shining directly into the house, making the house more spacious than it really was.

"Sorry about that," said a voice from the living room. Iruka saw a man lying on the sofa, obviously had just woken up. He quickly stood up. "I fell asleep. Now I see what you mean. This village is very peaceful."

Iruka walked to him and grabbed him by the shoulders before he hugged him fondly. "Maeno, my dear! It is good to see you again."

"Likewise," Maeno replied with a roguish grin as he returned the hug. He was a few hands taller than Iruka, and his rugged looks would not be considered as good looking if not for that grin which clearly was characteristic of him. His eyes were of a good-natured green, which was a rarity. Curiously, though, he wore no headband. "I never thought we would meet again – not under this circumstance."

"Neither did I, but I won't have it any other way," Iruka replied. He looked around and nodded. "I understand why you insist on having this space. It fits you well."

"Not to mention other things, but I'm going ahead of myself," Maeno said with a shrug. He resumed his seat; Iruka sat opposite of him. "I know that the two of you had a history in the past. Not trying to dredge up the past, but it was kind of nasty, eh?"

Iruka smiled bitterly. "Well, it's nothing. It made me realise something even more important."

"Ah, a smile!" Maeno exclaimed suddenly, that Iruka nearly jumped. "Iruka, you used to smile a lot, even when you were down. But for the last few months, during those times that we managed to meet, I saw not even a ghost of a smile about you."

Iruka quickly looked about, trying to change the subject. "Where is the man?"

"He's safely under the influence, in that room, but there's plenty of time." Maeno leant forward, his eyes now shaded with concern. "Tell me what happened."

Iruka shook his head. "Not until I get my answers, and you have me provided with so many, Maeno Shite (Actor). I need to ask him first," he said darkly as his eyes stole a glance at a door which Maeno pointed previously. "Then my answers can be sorted out logically."

Maeno shrugged. "Suit yourself. You wanna have a go now?"

"No better time."

"Then let us proceed."

Maeno rose and with Iruka on tow, walked toward the room. "He's still under my genjutstu, so go easy."

They entered the room at the same time, and Iruka could not help smiling widely now. Maeno, who had last seen him about fifteen years ago, when the all-out attack had occurred, realised that this smile was different, somehow.

As if in a trance, Iruka stared at the man lying strapped on the metal bed, whose eyes were all white and mumbling incoherently. Now and then some of his limbs jerked involuntarily.

"Today," Iruka spoke to himself, "I will have my answers."

-()-

"Wake up."

The command was said with such gentleness that Naruto was compelled to rise gracefully like a flight of herons in the winter light. His body, however, still ached all over, and all he could do was to slowly open his eyes. Slowly, as he sight returned, so did his strength and his mental faculties. It felt as if he had slept for a thousand years. His limbs felt heavy and it took a while for him to be able to move his fingers and head. Turning his head to look around probably took about an eternity.

Naruto realised he was in a white room. Sun was streaming through the open sliding door. It was already afternoon. He sat up slowly.

He could not see anyone around him. That led him to wonder whose voice that he heard.

Naruto found that he could stand up without much difficulty. Realising that he was only dressed in boxers, he grabbed a kimono and tied it loosely around his waist. There was a mirror next to the kimono hangar, and he glanced at it.

"When did they shave me?" Naruto wondered loudly. His chin was clean-shaven, although there were a few hairs already growing back. Then, as an afterthought, he stole a look down his boxers. What he down there saw made him take a deep, relieved breath.

"Trust me, it is tempting," said a voice behind him. He quickly turned and fell into a fighting stance. There stood a woman with short hair, sharp eyes, hands around her ample bosom, standing there the way a hunter would at a trapped prey. "But we don't go that far."

"Oh," Naruto spoke with a derisive tone, "the koto player. Did you break any nails?" However, he relaxed at her sight.

"I don't need them for playing, dumbass," she shot back, but relaxed her stance too. "How do you feel?"

"Okay," he replied nonchalantly. "What did you do to me back then?" he asked as recollection flashed before his eyes. "I almost killed everyone here. How did you know my weak point? Did I hurt Funaki?"

Makoto sneered. "It takes more than what you have to break through my defences, little fox. Come. Funaki wants to see us. Looks like we're a team now." She turned and left Naruto, who frowned, trying to take in everything she had said.

"'Us'? When did we become a team? Hey? You listening? HEY!"

-()-

_To be continued... I promise I shall upload new chapters as soon as my schedule permits me!_ _In the meantime, please, please, review...!_


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